North Dakotans Try Sunday Shopping

Cleone Jensen is one of the thousands of North Dakotans who made history just by going shopping.

Jensen and his wife drove 250 miles from their Turtle Lake home to spend a recent Sunday at Fargo’s West Acres, North Dakota’s biggest shopping mall, after a new law lifted a state ban on Sunday shopping.

“It’s about time we got into the 20th Century,” Jensen said. “There are nine years left, and we just made it.”

Gov. George Sinner signed a bill earlier this month repealing the 100-year-old “blue laws.” North Dakota was the last state to prohibit Sunday shopping.

Although stores had to be closed until noon, the Fargo mall parking lot was filling up by 11:30 a.m. Fifteen minutes later, dozens of people were milling about in the mall.

By 1 p.m., the parking lot was nearly full, traffic was heavy and business was brisk.

Fred Anderson, manager of the mall, said there were about 5,000 cars in the parking lot by 2 p.m., and more than 12,000 customers.

Supporters of Sunday shopping say that it stimulates prosperity. Others say that it will ruin small towns and family togetherness--and they are not ready to give up the fight.

In Mayville, 50 miles north of Fargo, Mayor John Freije called Sunday shopping one of the dumbest changes the people of North Dakota have made.

“There’s only so much money to go around,” Freije said. “If people can’t spend it in six days, they sure aren’t going to spend it in seven.”

The law was just two days old when a Minot businessman launched a referendum campaign on the issue.

Merchants in Minnesota said they were concerned about the impact on their businesses since North Dakotans can shop closer to home.

David Gerszewski said that Sunday at his pawn shop and variety store in East Grand Forks, Minn., used to be his busiest day. On a recent Sunday, he said: “It’s been kind of dead. It was just like a weekday today.”

When North Dakota joined the Union in 1889, territorial restrictions against breaking the Sabbath were incorporated into state law with a few exceptions: Meat, milk and fish could be bought on Sundays before 9 a.m. Drugs, medicines and surgical instruments could be sold.

In 1920, afternoon baseball games were allowed. A voter initiative to allow movie theaters to be open on Sundays was defeated in 1934.

In 1943, legislators added public transportation, telephones, newspapers, filling stations and shoeshine stands to the Sunday necessities.

Starting in 1985, groceries were allowed to be open on Sunday if they had no more than six employees and a manager.

When the 1991 Legislature convened, party leaders promised fast action on a Sunday shopping bill. Within a month, the repeal was on the governor’s desk. An emergency clause made it effective immediately.

The state Tax Department estimates that added sales tax revenues will amount to perhaps $10 million a year.